Trigger Freeze

Let me throw this question out, i'd be interested in any helpful responses...

Over the past few months i've been suffering terrible bouts of trigger freeze. These occur in two ways. Sometimes my brain won't allow me to pull the trigger when I want to then, a moment later, seems to reset itself resulting in me shooting the target 5-10 feet beyond where I should. On other occasions (but more rarely) I suffer a complete paralysis of the finger and am unable to to pull the trigger at all. On the occasions this happens I feel my hand tighten around the grip but my trigger finger will not move.

Once I freeze once it usually snowballs until the end of the round. A break, even if its just for a few minutes, normally resets my brain and I can continue shooting without freezing but it can strike at any time and always without warning. Last weekend it occurred 40 targets into a competition to such an extent that I had to step off the line as I simply couldn't shoot anything.

The only conclusions I can draw are that it happens more often (although not exclusively) in competition and more often shooting right handed targets. I've shot 1000's of competition targets and am not unduly nervous or tense when it occurrs.

I've tried making subtle changes to my vision, hold point and shooting action, none of which have made any difference. My gunfit is also spot on. I am very reluctant to go down the release trigger route and will only do this an absolute last resort.

Has anyone tried hypnosis? Did it work and was it a permanent cure?

Any useful suggestions would be appreciated.

Calling Phil Coley....

He has done a massive research paper on this subject and i am sure he can help you.

Interesting, I get the occasional freeze, as you say round about the 40th clay, I have to put extra force into my trigger finger which always results in the shot being to the right and below where it needs to be, fortunately the incidence seems to be reducing and getting later in the day.

No wise words from me, but I do hope you get it sorted :good:

I very occasionally flinch. Most annoying. Never tried to fix it as it has not been common enough to worry.

I have heard various instructors having success with a few remedies, including shooting with a different finger on the trigger. Another one that worked with the shooter in question was to follow clays with an empty gun and say bang. Seemed to clear the head. But I can only assume that there are no rules about this as everybody is different and the causes could be various..

ooh this is a very very good post and a very interesting topic one of those that everyone has an opinion on and it gets over anlylised to death. I have suffered from this from time to time over the years (but not as bad as it sounds like you are) and have known quite a few friends suffer with it so I sympathise my friend its a horrible affliction.

My two peneth for what its worth. In my experience there are two reasons for trigger freeze and there both very simple. One is a technical issue and one is a mental issue, both I have suffered from and both I know to be correct for me (the below is for trap only)

no 1 - too high a gun hold so a target sneeks out under your barrels, you expect to see it but it appears a milli second late causing your brain to get confused and consequently no signal to trigger finger.

no 2 - for whatever reason you have lost confidence in your ability and your brain is trying to "not miss" a target rather than to "hit" a target, your brain is never fully confident that its time to shoot so it holds on and holds on fighting the subconscious part of your brains demand to pull the trigger.

NOTE

I stress the above is from my experience and there could be more reasons or I could be talking total bollox but there you go you did ask so I hope it is of help.

EDIT

Forgot too say that from my experience you grow out of no2 quite soon and for no apparent reason. I think it usually takes just one good result to get your confidence back and your brain back online. I hope you get over it my friend as I say I truly sympathise.

Will Hewland said:

I very occasionally flinch. Most annoying. Never tried to fix it as it has not been common enough to worry.

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Several flinch when i walk into a board room...poor things......don't think they are shooters though :laugh:

A shooter friend of mine contends that too light trigger pulls are a common cause of flinching.  I agree completely.  I normally shoot a release/pull setup but I can shoot 6lb+ pull triggers without any problem.

There is also the fear of failing that hangs up some people.

Good luck on any of it

Wonko the Sane said:

There is also the fear of failing that hangs up some people.

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exactly

ips said:

ooh this is a very very good post and a very interesting topic one of those that everyone has an opinion on and it gets over anlylised to death. I have suffered from this from time to time over the years (but not as bad as it sounds like you are) and have known quite a few friends suffer with it so I sympathise my friend its a horrible affliction.

My two peneth for what its worth. In my experience there are two reasons for trigger freeze and there both very simple. One is a technical issue and one is a mental issue, both I have suffered from and both I know to be correct for me (the below is for trap only)

no 1 - too high a gun hold so a target sneeks out under your barrels, you expect to see it but it appears a milli second late causing your brain to get confused and consequently no signal to trigger finger.

no 2 - for whatever reason you have lost confidence in your ability and your brain is trying to "not miss" a target rather than to "hit" a target, your brain is never fully confident that its time to shoot so it holds on and holds on fighting the subconscious part of your brains demand to pull the trigger.

NOTE

I stress the above is from my experience and there could be more reasons or I could be talking total bollox but there you go you did ask so I hope it is of help.

EDIT

Forgot too say that from my experience you grow out of no2 quite soon and for no apparent reason. I think it usually takes just one good result to get your confidence back and your brain back online. I hope you get over it my friend as I say I truly sympathise.

Click to expand...

Thanks for your replies. As far as number 2 is concerned, i'm never particularly stressed when shooting, even at big events. Trap is instinctive and that's the way i've always shot it. When the gun to target picture looks right I pull the trigger without any conscious 'I must hit this' thoughts in my head.

What's so odd about this freezing is it happens without any apparent influence from outside factors. Quite simply, it can happen on any target and at any time without any warning. When I suffer a complete inability to pull the trigger it's as if your trigger finger isn't connected to your hand. The grip tightens but the finger won't move.

It can go as quickly as it comes. I stepped off the line after 2 rounds last weekend unable to pull the trigger, had a break and finished the event. The last 50 targets were shot without a single freeze!

The only possible solution i've found is to shoot the targets very very quickly. For some reason this shooting action seems to take my brain out of the loop. In essence, I shoot the target before my brain has had time to tell my trigger finger not to move. This is great whilst it works but the lack of target vision and smooth gun movement introduces all sorts of other inconsistencies into my game.

Jan Powell said:

The only possible solution i've found is to shoot the targets very very quickly. For some reason this shooting action seems to take my brain out of the loop. In essence, I shoot the target before my brain has had time to tell my trigger finger not to move. This is great whilst it works but introduces all sorts of other inconsistencies into my game and isn't the way to shoot consistent scores.

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Is this not proof that although you think you are relaxed and confident, at the time of pulling the trigger something has happened to your mental state, hence quick shooting action and no problem with freeze ?

Wonko the Sane said:

A shooter friend of mine contends that too light trigger pulls are a common cause of flinching.  I agree completely.  I normally shoot a release/pull setup but I can shoot 6lb+ pull triggers without any problem.

There is also the fear of failing that hangs up some people.

Good luck on any of it

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Charlie.......I like light......When my finger is on i like it to go off when i pull.....but that is just funny ol meeeee :wink:

Yes, you may be right. I can only describe the symptoms as the person on the end of them. At the time of shooting, and up until the freeze occurs, I feel relaxed. In fact, I feel the same as I have on all the previous occasions i've shot. Whether there's something going on in the deep part of my mind I don't know.

I suffered from this a while ago but touch wood it hasn't affected me for a while now. When i suffered from it i tried to find out what was causing it and this led me to speak to a guy who works with people to get rid of it. His response to why, was: It is your subconscious limiting your performance to a level where your subconscious thinks that you belong. To fix, if you can change your inner belief that you are actually better than where you currently are it should go away. - easier said than done!!

I have had some occasions when I have not been able to shoot the target and I think it is related to the fact that the target has got away from me slightly and subconsciously I know that the chances of hitting it are very slim. Its like a don't be daft your not going to hit it and you don't pull the trigger. It does not have to be too much different to targets you have already hit in fact it usually happens to me when I have plastered several targets and then suddenly WTF! But normally late on in a session of several rounds. Hope you get it sorted out soon.

Spot on john, imo to put it simplistically your brain is telling your subconcious that you are an arse and not on the shot, many occasions of 1st barrel only freeze are followed by a delayed 1st barrel kill or even a 2nd barrel kill, is the brain protecting us from a miss by over ruling the subconcious urge to pull the trigger ?

ooh I like these deep discussions

I actually watched a guy two weeks back have a classic case of what we have described Ian. He called the target it got away from him while he stared incredulously at it and then he tried to shoot it, it was funny to anybody watching because he nearly fell over in his effort to pull the trigger as he over balanced without the recoil to steady him. He did actually get both barrels off eventaully... the target was just entering the next Department by that time  

I luckily have not suffered from such a thing and hope I never do. I found it interesting that shooting faster and without conscious thought about the shot, made the situation improve. Ian (ips) and I have discussed this unconscious shooting at some great length, we have also read various theories about it too! It seems almost as though the conscious mind always wants to run the show,however when it comes to instinctive or reflex shooting such as trap,the unconscious mind is best left to do the job and any interference by the conscious mind will just screw things up. I'm not saying that this is what is happening in Jan's case, however it is strange that shooting fast,or even too fast,seems to reduce the problem. Just a thought!!

Indeed we have les.

Your point is valid, this is why i believe the conscious part sometimes over rules the sub conscious and this is when freeze occurs as they brain gets confused.